Chris Gayle completed a half-century and Shivnarine Chanderpaul was eyeing one of his own to throw West Indies a lifeline on the fifth and final day in the opening Test against India on Tuesday at the Antigua Recreation Ground.

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At the tea break, West Indies, chasing a highly improbable, if not impossible victory target of 392, were 158 for three, with Gayle unbeaten on 59 and Chanderpaul not out on 47.

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The two left-handers batted through the entire period to heighten the prospects of a draw, after West Indies continued from their lunchtime total of 72 for three.

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Gayle reached his 50 when he drove Virender Sehwag through wide mid-off for his eighth boundary. He also hit two sixes from 175 balls in a little under four-and-a-half hours of batting.

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Chanderpaul joined him at the wicket after lunch and survived a chance early when Wasim Jaffer failed to hold a low edge at third slip off Munaf Patel.

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Without being careless, Chanderpaul decided to counterattack and played a wide array of strokes to collect nine boundaries from 83 balls, and helped to invigorate the sedate Gayle.

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Before lunch, three wickets, two to Shantha Sreesanth, in the last half hour looked to have enhanced India's charge to victory.

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Sreesanth claimed the prized scalp of Brian Lara in the final over before the interval when he had the West Indies captain adjudged lbw for a seven-ball duck.

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The batting superstar, shuffling across the line of a well-pitched delivery, tried to work it into the off-side and was struck plumb in front.

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In his previous over, Sreesanth claimed Ramnaresh Sarwan, caught at gully for one, when the West Indies vice-captain flirted with danger out at the off-stump and sliced a shoulder high catch to a fielder.

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The two wickets had changed the complexion of the match after Gayle and fellow opener Daren Ganga had spent the majority of the morning period establishing a solid platform of 67 for the first wicket.

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Gayle curbed his natural instincts but he was fortunate that umpire Simon Taufel did not agree with Anil Kumble's appeal for a catch to the wicketkeeper in his final over before the interval.

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Gayle swept at the champion leg-spin bowler and television replays revealed that the ball lobbed into the wicketkeeper's gloves off the back of the West Indies opener's bat.

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Ganga however, had not been so fortunate. He had batted for two hours for his 36, when he turned a delivery from Kumble straight into the lap of forward short leg fielder Yuvraj Singh.

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Sreesanth has been India's most successful bowler with two wickets for 42 runs from 15 overs.

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India, rated at three on the latest International Cricket Council Test Rankings, are seeking their first series victory in the Caribbean for 35 years.

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The four-Test series between the two sides also features matches at Gros Islet (June 10-14), Basseterre (June 22-26), and Kingston (June 30-July 4).